WASHINGTON — The United States is said to be losing control over
where it weapons are ending up.
Critics both in Congress and in the arms control community said the
Clinton administration is easing U.S. monitoring of the sale of weapons to
foreign clients, Middle East Newsline reported. The result, they said, is that weapons bound for one
country might be supplied to an enemy of the United States.
The United States again led the world in 1999 in arms sales. The major
U.S. market was the Middle East.
Last month, the General Accounting Office, the watchdog of Congress,
identified what it termed were severe weaknesses in the Foreign Military
Sales
end-use monitoring program. The report, "Foreign Military Sales: Changes
Needed to Correct Weaknesses in End-Use Monitoring Program," said Washington
relies on host countries to provide an account for their weapons purchases
from the United States.
The report cast doubts on the reliability of the reporting of unnamed
clients of the United States. These include buyers of the U.S. Stinger
shoulder-held missile.
The Pentagon, the report said, "has not effectively implemented the
requirements that its field personnel observe and report on foreign
government's use of U.S. defense articles and services transferred through
the Foreign Military Sales program." This includes the sale of the Advanced
Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, which requires special monitoring.
In addition, the Pentagon has not issued "guidance specifying what
monitoring is required" and has not "effectively implemented requirements
for its field personnel to perform end-use checks in response to specific
standards or for selected weapon systems."
Other criticism cited in the GAO report was that the Pentagon did not
establish procedures to ensure that field personnel received the information
needed to initiate end-use checks or provide guidance on how to apply the
standards. The report said the Pentagon has not complied with the reporting
requirements of the end-use monitoring amendment to the Arms Export Control
Act.
Rachel Stohl, an arms analyst at the Center for Defense Information,
said the Clinton administration has further eased oversight of U.S. weapons
during the arms export reforms announced in the summer.
"The new export process will reduce oversight and transparency and
raises the probability of unauthorized retransfers, which means more U.S.
weapons may end up in the hands of human rights abusers and others who wage
war," Ms. Stohl said.
